Clatts says Andre Marriner got it right, both the ruling out of the pen (via VAR obviously) & starting with a drop ball.
Well done, VAR. Referee Andre Marriner awards a penalty, despite it being a perfectly good challenge by defender Ethan Ampadu on Joey Pelupessy.
Marriner, from his angle, thinks Pelupessy plays the ball first and so he points to the spot.
However, as we can see from the television replays, it was in fact a good tackle by Ampadu and therefore not a foul.
This is why VAR is introduced – to prevent these incorrect calls. As for why a drop ball was awarded rather than a corner, the ball was still in play when Marriner blew his whistle to award a penalty.
That means the restart has to be a drop ball. It seems strange, but those are the rules.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-6638119/Ethan-Ampadus-tackle-Joey-Pelupessy-VAR-introduced.html
Blimey, Andre must have thought that it was a spot on penalty to react so quickly that he blew before the ball went out of play, particularly with the speed of the play at that point. Ah well, you live and learn.
VAR is used to give a correct decision that it was not a penalty, however, the attacker is then penalised because it should have been a corner but the referee gives an uncontested drop ball.
There is something not morally correct about all that, particularly if the game had been played at Hillsborough, because it would have been a penalty ----rightly or wrongly and could have changed the whole game. The referee has the final decision ----well he used to have!